An electrician who was fined $200 for drinking a beer while fishing may have the penalty quashed after the case was referred to the Police Commissioner.
Doug Vickery, 36, labelled police ‘un-Australian’ when he was handed the infringement notice as he fished for octopus off a rock wall in Perth on Saturday.
‘I’ve just been fined $200 for having an open container in my pocket, a beer – even though it was empty when they arrived,’ Mr Vickery said in a video shot at the scene.
Western Australia Police Minister Michelle Robert, who agrees the penalty was excessive, has asked the commissioner to consider reviewing the case.
‘At first glance it seemed a pretty interesting case. I’m sure he’s not the only person who is fishing off the beach or rocks who has ever had a beer,’ Ms Robert said.
Doug Vickery (left) was fined $200 for drinking a beer while fishing off a Perth rock wall
The two officers approached the fisherman (pictured) and breathalised him as he sat on the rocks with an empty beer bottle in his pocket before slapping him with the fine
‘It’s not something I can interfere in, it’s something I’ll ask the commissioner about and it will be his call whether he wants to review it or not.’
Two Western Australia Police officers breathalised Mr Vickery as he sat on the rocks with an empty beer bottle in his pocket.
‘I had nothing on my person, no bag, no esky, just my one beer bottle in my pocket and my occy stick and gaff,’ Mr Vickery explained online.
‘My only beer had been empty in my pocket for 15 by then… I passed the breathalyser.’
He said police handed him the fine after hearing reports someone had been speeding and drink driving around the marina.
Mr Vickery said the two officers checked his licence before reviewing CCTV footage.
‘My only beer had been empty in my pocket for 15 by then … I passed the breathalyser,’ Mr Vickery (pictured) wrote online
‘I was furious by then,’ he wrote online.
‘[The police] said ”you drank in a public place and your $200 infringement will come in the post”.
‘They’ve just given a fisherman a $200 fine for having a beer when he was fishing!’
The 36-year-old said the officers slapped him with the fine because it was ‘an offence [to] crack a beer when fishing’ in a public place.
The 36-year-old (pictured) said the officers slapped him with the fine because it was ‘an offence (to) crack a beer when fishing’ in a public place
‘I didn’t know it was illegal to have a beer while fishing, it’s a joke really, it’s un-Australian if anything,’ he told 9News.
‘On a lighter note, I did catch an octopus.’
While technically Mr Vickery committed an offence, defence lawyer Tom Percy QC said he though ‘common sense would prevail’.
‘You’d think they [the police] would have better things to do,’ he told the publication.
Daily Mail Australia does not suggest that Mr Vickery had been drink-driving.
Western Australia Police Minister Michelle Robert, who agrees the penalty was excessive, has referred the matter to the commissioner
‘I had nothing on my person, no bag, no esky, just my one beer bottle in my pocket and my occy stick and gaff,’ Mr Vickery explained online